Meat canning hits record high

KIDRON -- Last week, hundreds of volunteers took time out of their schedules to contribute to a movement which supplies protein to hungry people across the world.

The 62nd annual Mobile Meat Canning drive made a stop in Kidron from Oct. 20-23.

More than 700 volunteers helped to can a record of 19,829 cans of turkey, said Jesse Hamman, president of the Relief Canning of Kidron board of trustees.

"It was a very good year. Last year we had 690 volunteers, and this year we had over 700 people come, and last year we canned 19,000 cans of turkey, so we were several hundred cans over that," Hamman said.

The effort is an initiative of the Mennonite Central Committee, which formed in 1920.

"Initially, it was basically five Mennonite groups coming together in response to the devastation after World War I in Europe," said Tim Friesen, canning coordinator for MCC. "Mennonites in the United States wanted to know, 'How do we respond to our brethren facing difficult times after World War I.'"

To help their brothers and sisters overseas, the group started to can jars of food and ship them to Europe. But, because they were canned in glass, up to 25 percent of the jars broke while they were shipped, which led to the government restricting these shipments, Friesen said.

"After World War II, they (MCC) wanted to get more people involved, so they looked at production plants in Kansas and made a mobile cannery," Friesen said. "In October 1946, they started the first meat canning route, and this project has operated basically non-stop since then."